NEW YORK (AP) — For the past few years, HBO’s “Real Sports” taped its episodes in the same Manhattan block as CBS’ “60 Minutes.” They shared their sensibilities with their neighbors.
However, while “60 Minutes” is celebrating its 60th anniversary, Bryant Gumbel’s monthly sports magazine is calling for its closure after 29 years of publication. The 90-minute final episode will premiere Tuesday at 10pm ET.
Sports is the lens through which the magazine looks at all kinds of issues, winning awards for articles such as: Corruption in the International Olympic Committee, labor abuse While Qatar was preparing for the World Cup, concussion in sports and the children forced to be a jockey For camel racing in the Middle East.
‘Real Sports’ told some inspiring stories, like Mary Carrillo’s Profile of Mr. and Mrs. Hoyts, A father ran a marathon pushing his son with cerebral palsy in a wheelchair. flashed humor.
Who won or lost? There were other men for that purpose.
“I’m fine,” Gumbel said before taping the final episode. “It’s sad, but everything must come to an end, and now is the right time to end this.”
Backstage, a cart full of champagne was being carried down the hallway. Correspondents, producers and their families milled around the office and said their goodbyes. Gumbel’s wife, Hilary, and her grandchildren sat in the control room to watch the final recording.
years of effort
Mr. Gumbel will be 75 years old when his contract expires, and HBO is now controlled by a company called Warner Bros. Discovery in an effort to cut costs. It’s natural for the show to leave the show, but the concern is that some types of sports journalism may also be gone forever.
“This has been the gold standard of television sports journalism for the past 30 years, and it’s a huge loss,” said Mark Hyman, director of the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland. “It ticked all the boxes: timely, ambitious, well-funded and independent.”
Increasingly, he said, sports news is coming from stations owned by leagues like the NFL and MLB, and from networks whose businesses rely heavily on securing rights deals.
“This show tried to do something in sports journalism that no one else was doing,” Gumbel said. “I think it was one of the few ways we could honestly explore issues without worrying about ratings, sponsorships, or relationships.
“I was on the other side of the coin,” he said. “I’ve worked for networks that are what we would now call ‘broadcast partners’ for sports organizations, and you’re just a fool to think you can follow whatever narrative you want if it conflicts with that relationship. Life doesn’t work that way.”
Carrillo said athletes agreed to challenging interviews when they agreed to appear on “Real Sports,” just as “60 Minutes” guests knew what they were getting into. He said he knew what he had done.
Athletes now have more control over their messages through social media and news outlets like the Players Tribune, she said.
“I wish I could have kept going,” she said. “But times have changed.”
A story that made waves — and a difference of opinion —
Carrillo has been with Real Sports since 1997. Other notable correspondents include John Frankel, Andrea Kremer, Armen Keteyian, Soledad O’Brien, and David Scott. The late sportswriting legend Frank Deford was active from 1995 to 2014.
Bernard Goldberg is bitter exit He said he abruptly left the show after 22 years on the show after being offended by comments made by Gumbel, who is black, about the extent of racism in society.
Goldberg canceled HBO the day he quit and said he hasn’t watched a minute of “Real Sports” since then and has no intention of watching the final episode. He declined further comment.
When I asked Gumbel about the episode that sticks out in his mind, he cited the one that led to the athlete’s release. marcus dixonfrom prison, and about another thing. St. Bonaventure University recruiting scandal An incident in which a university official committed suicide.
“We focus on how athletes impact their sport,” he said. “What’s more important, what’s more lasting, what’s more interesting to me is how the sport impacts the people who are trying to play it, who are trying to run it, and who are trying to govern it. is.”
Gumbel boasts that despite a divorce, two bouts with cancer, seven surgeries, and a particularly bad facial injury (he showed a photo of it on his cell phone), he never missed a taping for the show in 29 years. He was so depressed that he needed 68 stitches.
He recalls a conversation with Deford about the decline in professional ability with age. “Frank used to say to me, ‘You can still change the phrase.’ I don’t do it as often as I used to,” Gumbel said.
He can relate. Gumbel thought about what many athletes struggle with at the end of their careers.
“I always thought it was better to be a year too early than a day too late,” he said. “I never wanted to be that guy who overstayed his welcome.”
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David Bauder covers media for the Associated Press.please follow him http://twitter.com/dbauder